The making of the green issue

Author: Layout by Hannah Wilson, Photos by Andrew Ngeow and Angela Evancie

From our earliest discussions of making this issue, we knew the most effective approach would be twofold - the week's content would focus on pressing environmental issues, of course, but we would also endeavor to change certain aspects of our normal production in an effort to fully understand the implications of green publishing. Below are examples of some of those adjustments that we made, or at the very least, of ideas that the past week has inspired us to explore.
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What do silver halide particles, mercury, table salt, and egg whites have in common? They have all been employed in the taking and making of photographs. Beginning in 1837, with the invention of the daguerreotype, scientists and artists alike began to experiment with different combinations of chemicals and processes, all in the name of finding the perfect balance of light sensitivity and image longevity. But besides being messy and emitting strange odors, these processes proved wasteful. Even today, the production of a single traditional photograph could mean toxic chemicals and 20 gallons of fresh water washed down the drain, not to mention lots of failed attempts that end up crumpled in the trash.

With the inception of digital photography in the l980s, this mess gave way to thousands of neat little pixels comprising an image file. No more egg whites, no more mercury, and a reduced environmental impact for a once materially extravagant medium. Our very own Campus photographers used to spend hours in the darkroom on production night; these days we tinker with Photoshop and never print a page. And while there is something quite pleasing about a vintage black and white photograph, for our purposes you really can't beat a memory card and a USB cord.

- Angela Evancie, Photography Editor

One of the questions that often goes unasked (and necessarily unanswered) about those newspapers waiting patiently for readers in the dining halls, library, Grille or myriad other places on campus is how they got there. To minimize the negative environmental effect of delivering our papers, we purchased carbon offsets from Vermont-based NativeEnergy to offset the trip from Plattsburgh, N.Y. (the location of our printer) to Middlebury. We bought $12 worth of offsets, which neutralized the 0.056 tons of C02 emission from driving a total of 114.55 miles. Once in Middlebury, The Campus editorial board delivered the papers by foot or bike, a route that is normally done by car.

- Jack Lysohir, Managing Editor

The obvious irony of a newspaper producing a green issue is that it has to print thousands of pages of paper in order to highlight environmental issues. Though it draws about 80 percent of its readership online, The Campus distributes over 2,000 hard copies of every weekly 24-page issue. As a result, challenges existed to make the printing process as environmentally friendly as possible. Fortunately, The Press Republican (our printer) assured the editorial board that the paper was already in good, green hands. The paper used for each issue of The Campus is 80 percent recycled and completely biodegradable. Furthermore, the Press Republican uses soy-based, petroleum free and compost-friendly ink when printing. Despite our initial thinking that a black and white newspaper would be more environmentally sound, the difference of printing in color turned out to be negligible The process requires minimal electricity as well, with The Campus taking all but ten minutes to completely run off the presses.

- Scott Greene, Editor-in-Chief

Our office is located in a dark, leaky basement where, on a good day, the climate seems to vacillate between arctic and tropical. As such, we sometimes forget the good conservationist measures that Middlebury has instilled in us and throw caution to the wind, leaving lights and monitors on, opening windows when the heater is churning, and printing article drafts in - gasp - single-sided mode. Recently, we employed brilliantly named "Kill A Watt" devices to discover that, if left running indefinitely, our seven computers normally use around eight dollars of electricity on a weekly basis. And so, to pay homage to the Green Issue (and, perhaps, to absolve our guilty consciences), we decided to be extra mindful of our paper and energy usage this week, making all of our edits directly onto our computers (thus saving over 200 sheets of paper) and working during the daylight hours whenever possible.

- Tess Russell, Features Editor